Panday wants new Integrity Commission

Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday has called on the president of Trinidad and Tobago to appoint an entirely new Integrity Commission, which now has only three of the five members who were sworn-in less than a week ago.

One member - retired appeal court judge Zainool Hosein - resigned immediately on taking the oath of office last Friday claiming that the president reneged on a commitment to appoint him as Deputy Chairman of the Commission and didn't even have the courtesy to tell him in advance.

The other - Deputy Chairman Jeffrey McFarlane - quit Wednesday under a cloud of controversy.

McFarlane's appointment started the problem because he himself didn't know that he was to serve as Deputy Chairman until the day he arrived to take the oath. But it got even more complicated when opposition MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar wrote the president pointing out that McFarlane's appointment breached sections of the Integrity in Public Life Act since he was the chief executive of the National Insurance Board (NIB) and serves on multiple statutory boards.

The act prohibits such a person from holding office as a commissioner. McFarlane initially refused to sit with the commission at its inaugural meeting Monday and advised the chairman to seek legal advice. On Wednesday he quit.

The unanswered question is on whose advice the president made the unexpected change to move Hosein and appoint McFarlane as Deupoty Chairman. The president is supposed to make appointments to the Integrity Commission on the advice of the prime minister and the leader of the opposition. In this particular case there was no input from the opposition.

The president wrote to Basdeo Panday asking for his feedback but Panday didn't give any becasue he said the letter from the president got misplaced in his office.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning declined comment on the matter and on the resignation of McFarlane. All Manning is willing to say on the matter is “we were consulted and we expressed our view.” He said reporters should go to the president for any further comment.

The president has made no comment either. He left on vacation in the midst of the controversy and acting president Danny Montano had indicated that he would do what was necessary under the circumstances after consultations with President Max Richards.

Panday is now saying the president should start over. “It seems what the President ought to do is start the process all over again since on this occasion the appointment of the commission has been badly tainted,” the former prime minister told reporters.

He said it's not clear if the president made a mistake in not knowing of McFarlane's many posts. “I would have thought before appointing, the President would have checked out the situation thoroughly,” he said.

Panday suggested that it was a case of interference for political gain. "If the President offers a job and says it is subject to confirmation, I ask confirmation by whom? It couldn’t be the President and therefore it has to be the Prime Minister. So therefore there was interference,” Panday added.

The chairperson of the women's arm of Panday's United National Congress (UNC) is taking the matter another step and calling for the resignation of President Richards, claiming the Integrity Commission affair has brought his office into disrepute.

"The fiasco that arose with the appointment to the commission of a man who was clearly unqualified according to the law – and to the controversial position of Deputy Chairman at that – is ultimately the fault of President Richards" Dr Jennifer Jones Kernahan said in a news release.

She said media commentaries have questioned "His Excellency’s handling of that matter and members of the public are expressing loss in confidence in President Richards", adding that people are questioning the president's judgment in taking a vacation "while this crisis began to unfold".

The former cabinet minister said, "In these circumstances, His Excellency must save the Office of President from further disrepute and do the only honourable thing left which is to resign."